Unified distribution of fluid and electrical ignition



' May 23,1950 L M HELD 2.509.093

UNIFIED DISTRIBUTION o'F FLUID AND ELECTRICAL IGNITION CURRENT To TUBULAR VALVED SPARK PLUGS Filed July 5, 1947 IN V EN TOR.

Patented May 23, 1950 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE UNIFIED DISTRIBUTION or new ELECTRICAL IGNITION CURRENT T TUBULAR VALVED SPARK PLUGS Lloyd M. Field, New London, Ohio Application July 3, 1947, Serial No. 758,866

1, This invention relates to novel forms of topoil distributors, and particularly to the novel arrangement and construction for distribution of oil through tubular conductors of ignition.

Some conventional designs vaporize the oil, discharge the vapor into the intake manifold and depend on admixture with fuel vapor for distribution into cylinders of an engine. Other designs do not vaporize the oil but discharge it direct through tubular spark plugs which have dual means for connecting both the ignition wires which extend from the distributor and the tubes through which the oil is injected into each cylinder, and each tube attached to each sparkplug is extended to communicate with a reservoir. In multi-cylinder engines where considerable lengths of ignition wires are used between the distributor and each of the row of installed spark plugs spaced over the length of the engine block, these wires being crossed and re-crossed in a grouped, packed bunch at the side of the engine and farming out over its top to the plugs, contacting in sections with hot metal parts of the engine, it is obvious that leakage, cracks and definite'short circuits are certain to occur in such wires, and the confused appearance of such conventional installation discourages the frequent precautionary inspection and service of ignition parts which is important to the maintenance of efiicient performance. In such engines when an installation of lubricant-injector spark plugs is made with dual connectors for attachment to each plug, as mentioned above, the total installation of conductors is practically doubled, the appearance of mass confusion becomes an actual deterrent and prejudice to the market acceptance of spark plugs such as are disclosed in my prior patents, No. 2,371,162 and No.2, l88,9l2, both of which spark plugs are valuable contributions to the encouragement of frequent servicing by the convenient and low cost means therein disclosed providing for easy replacement of oxidized positive electrode tips and negative electrodes; The enormous waste in the replacement of the entire spark plugs which may be avoided by the use of the above type of spark plugs has made it necessary to the instant invention, so as to encourage their use. The present invention eliminates the prejudice against the use of such tubular spark plugs with replaceable electrodes, because it eliminates the imperfections of conventional lubricant feedermeans separate from the'ignition conductors.

The object of the present invention is to de- 3 Claims. (Cl. 123-143) connecting a fluid source and an electrical ignition source, both through a single conductor fixed to each fluid-injector spark .plug mounted in an engine, whereby fluid will be injected into combustion chambers in response to valve and piston actuation, and ignition sparks will occur within said .plugs in the firing order of said ongine in response to distributor operation.

Another object is to provide for progressive flow of fluid injections in repetitious unbroken sequence into flow-director I tubes fixed in numerical sequence at their inner termini in open communication with a main feeder tube.

Another object is to fully enclose andinsul'ate flow-director tubes which are rearranged from their inner termini in numerical order to present their outer termini in the firin order of the engine.

Another object is to position and space the outer termini of the flow-director tubes, which are arranged in the firing order of the engine, to fit into and form a seat in recessedreceiving chambers located in the upper wall of the enclosure case opposite each installed spark plug.

Another object is to provide adjustment means in engine mountings whereby said case, enclosing flow-director. tubes, may be installed as a unit on an engine with said receiving chambers spaced at a predetermined distance from fluidinjector spark plugs installed in said engine. I

Another object is to have the conductor tube sections, which span and complete the communication from the encased flow-director tubes and which may be removed and replaced without concern for the firing, order of the engine, readily attachable, removable and of uniform size and interchangeable for convenience of installation and for economy of standardized production.

Another objectis to provide insulated electrical connectors fixed at one end to the inner termini of said encased flow-director tubes and formed at their other end in open receiving chambers into which shortened cables from the engine distributor may be plugged in numerical order to complete'the communication of ignition current through the flow-director and span conductor into the spark plugs when installed in said e'ngme.

Another object is toprovide adjustable valve means whereby a predetermined volume of air may be introduced to reduce the liquid volume desired for injection.

With these and other objects in view, my invention consists in the arrangement, construction and combination of the parts of m device may be plugged, as indicated by the lines extending from the circle, said circle indicating the distributor and outlets with numerals of the cylinders to which each outlet is connected, thus showing the firing order of the engine.

Figure 2 is a perspective view of an engine with my flow-director device installed.

Figure 3 is an enlarged end view of a fluid-injector spark plug installed at the end of the engins block and an end view of the flow-director installed to the side of the block and the spanconductor joining the spark plug with the fiowdirector.

Referring to the drawing, I have used the engine cylinder numerals from I to 8 inclusive to indicate the firing order of a specific eight-cylinder-in-line engine for illustrative purposes, and it will be understood that my invention is applicab e to any internal combustion multi-cylinder engine using spark plugs for ignition and for the introduction of lubricant into the combustion chamber of such engine; it would be functionable with modified obvious advantages for ignition with conventional spark plugs. Numerals beginning with 9 in the drawings are intended. to designate similar parts in the views.

In Figure 1 my preferred form of the invention shows an elongated case, made up of sections 9 and ID, and a short undersection 13. In section 9 metal tube flow-directors it are formed to present their lower termini in spaced firing order and extend thru said section to their upper termini which are arranged in the numerical order of the engine cylinders and are spaced to locate each terminus opposite each spark plug installed in said engine. The tubes 16 are embedded in insulation section 9 with their upper termini fitted into holes 12, which holes extend through the insulation block that forms upper section In of said case. Space is left in said holes above said termini forming a chamber for the installation of the termini of span-conductors 24 passing through hollow retaining studs l I fixed in case section in. Undersection l3 of said case is formed of an. insulation block with hole 22 extending lengthwise therethrough and perpendicular holes 2| in open communication outward therefrom with upper orifice sections I! of electrical ignition connectors embedded within block l3, said orifice sections forming a part of holes 2|. Lower orifice sections 17a of said electrical connectors present open chambered termini for conventional plug-in mounting of the distributor cables in firing order. Lower termini of flow-director tubes is are fitted into holes 2| of case section 13, extending through metal sections I! of the embedded electrical ignition connectors fixed to said tubes. Numeral l4 indicates a metal tube fixed within the orifice of stud l5, which is screw-fixed into case section l3 whereby the orifice of tube I4 will be in alignment and in open communication with the hole 22 of case section l3. In Figure 2 reservoir 25, open to the atmosphere at 28, A will receive tube 14, through cap 26, within said reservoir. Orifice 20, for the introduction of air,

will be regulated by the needle-valve [9, which 4 is threadedly journalled within nut l8 mounted in case section l3 whereby the needle valve l9 will be in alignment with the orifice 22.

Referring to the outline drawing in Fig. 1, within the circle, representing the distributor, electrical outlets therein are indicated by the numerals associated therewith, which numerals specify the combustion chamber within which electric current will be introduced through the attached cable indicated by the line drawn therefrom and extendin within the electrical connector embedded within the insulation block of case section l3, at orifice section Ha, through which the current will fiow through the insulation embedded section to the orifice section I! thereof. The current will then flow through the fixed connection at H into and through fiowdirector metal tube conductor I6 and into metal tube span-connector 24 installed at H in case section in and through said span-connector 24 into the plug mounted in the engine, through the connector 23 thereof. Thus there is no du plication of conductors from the termini of the short cables extending into electrical connectors in section 3 for the conduction of electric ignition current and for the introduction of fluid into combustion chambers. All of that section wherein unified flow-director conductors arediverted and rearranged to conform to the firing order of an engine will be fully enclosed in [a compact unitary section presenting only a firing sequence of receiving chambers into which short cables from the distributor may be readily plugged Without confustion and wherein interchangea ble span-connectors may be freely installed or removed without concern for the firing order of the engine. Within the encased unit, all of the internal tubes will be permanently fixed within insulation, and the fiow of fiuid injections from the feeder tube will be in constant sequence during operation and will be introduced into cylinders of the engine in correct timed order through the flow-director tubes which will also conduct ignition current in the firing order of the engine. The multiple parts involved in these functions being thus fixed, enclosed and permanently sealed in a separate single unit, there are left only elementary connectors for service handling or replacement.

Many obvious modifications may be made in the form and arrangement of parts in the devices descrlbed above without departing from the spirit and scope of this invention, as defined in the appended claims.

What is claimed is:

l. in a multi-cylinder engine having valved orifice spark plugs, an electric ignition distributer with a lead for each cylinder in the order of firing, and a source of liquid for communication with said valved orifices; an insulated case composed of an upper and a lower insulation section extending alon all the engine cylinders, the upper section having. hollow tube connectors equally spaced from their respective 65 spark plug terminals in numerical order, interchangeable conductor tubular connections between each spark plug and the corresponding tube connector, a third section of insulation mounted under said lower section having a lon- 70 gitudinal main passage connected to the liquid source and branch passages opening in the top of said third section, one for each cylinder in firing order, electrical connectors for each of said branch passages having a plug-in opening 75 in communication with the corresponding branch passage and extending to individual plug-in sockets in the bottom of said third section arranged in the same order, plugs on the ends of said distributor leads for plugging into said plug-in sockets, and spaced conductor tubes in the lower section of said insulated case having their upper terminals extending into the bottoms of said hollow tube connectors in the upper section and their lower terminals extending into said plug-in openings in the order of firing.

2. The combination defined in claim 1, wherein said hollow tube connectors are retaining studs for sealing said tubular connections to said spaced conductor tube upper terminals.

3. The combination defined in claim 1, wherein said longitudinal main passage in said third section is vented to the atmosphere, and means provided for regulating the size of said Vent.

LLOYD M. FIELD.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS 10 Number Name Date 1,378,260 Melton May 1'7, 1921 1,692,087 Matthew Nov. 20, 1928 2,229,063 Field Jan. 21, 1941 2,310,575 Cattaneo Feb. 9, 1943 15 2,403,440 Jansson July 9, 1946 

